With all of its potential to clarify and simplify, Super Tuesday has settled nothing.

Another smattering of underwhelming wins for Mitt Romney. Another night of victories for Rick Santorum that justify continuing but fall short of pulling him up to Romney’s level.

And Newt Gingrich notches a win, even if it is his home state, bolstering his shaky claim that he too should stick around.

Welcome to the perfect recipe for Republican agony.

Romney supporters did not get the slam dunks they needed to wave off the pesky competition. Santorum did not get the Ohio win he needed to be the hero of the headlines. Winning Tennessee, Oklahoma and North Dakota is great, but it was Ohio that would have armed him with a claim to have a shot at Romney uncluttered by Newt.

Newt needed strength outside Georgia and did not get it, leaving him to plot a course through neighboring Alabama and Mississippi next Tuesday.

The happiest camp is Santorum’s because it is the only campaign where expectations were exceeded. There was a strong possibility that the Romney locomotive could have plowed through Santorum’s hopes of providing a more conservative alternative.

That did not happen. But Santorum needed something that he did not get, and that is a thoroughly defeated Gingrich.

Sure, Newt’s lone win was in his home state, and he did not even come close anywhere else. But as the night wrapped up, there was the former House speaker, pledging to carry the fire for additional miles.

With precisely no evidence that voters are actually warming to him in greater numbers, Gingrich was forced to single out the one thing that is his undeniable advantage: “I am the one candidate who has the ability to debate Barack Obama decisively,” he told a cheering crowd in Atlanta.

No doubt about it, Republicans get tingly at the prospect of Obama walking into the buzz saw of Gingrich on a debate stage.

Just one problem. Newt is not going to be the nominee. And for many voters, there’s another problem. If Newt stays in, the nominee will be Mitt Romney.

Most Republicans thrilled at the notion of a Gingrich-Obama debate are probably cool to Romney’s spotty conservatism and under-inspiring appeal. What they have to realize is that there is only one way to prevent the Romney nomination, and that is to get behind Santorum. There is only one way for Santorum to succeed, and that is for Gingrich to get out.

Ouch, that’s harsh. It is also undeniably true.

I will not call for Newt to step aside. He is a candidate of substance and impact, with a chance to win a few more states before the convention. He has every right to give his voters a voice in every state left on the primary schedule.

His candidacy comes at a price, however: nominee Mitt Romney.

If Romney is standing with his running mate on a stage in Tampa at the end of August, I don’t want to hear one word of whining about some ill-defined “establishment” having forced Romney down our throats.

Romney is in the driver’s seat because he has attracted the most support, period. He will continue to do so as long as the voters looking for an alternative are spread across a landscape of multiple options.

Gingrich believes he can show evidence of additional strength with wins in Mississippi and Alabama next Tuesday. If he does, the water torture will continue for Republicans seeking to prevent the inevitability of Romney.

If upcoming voters are as indifferent to him as they were on Super Tuesday in every state other than his own, Newt will begin to feel pressure to step aside for the greater good. Then the only question is: Will he listen?

Mark Davis is heard weekdays from 8:30 to 11 a.m. on WBAP News/Talk (820 AM and 96.7 FM). His email address is mdavis@wbap.com.

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